The present invention relates to a circuit breaker and particularly relates to a circuit breaker capable of being closed from a remote location.
Circuit breakers are electrical distribution devices that are installed to control the flow of electrical current from a power source to an electrical circuit. Circuit breakers are usually arranged to detect undesirable conditions in the electrical circuit, such as a short circuit or an elevated current level for example. In the event an undesirable condition is detected, the circuit breaker trips, or halts the flow of electrical current, to prevent the undesired condition from damaging the wiring of the electrical circuit.
After the undesired condition has been corrected, the operator or electrician needs to go to each circuit breaker that tripped and manually reset the circuit breaker to allow current to once again flow into the electrical circuit. The circuit breaker typically includes a mechanism that includes springs for closing the circuit breaker. Depending on the type of circuit breaker involved, the mechanism may be activated by a lever, or through the charging of closing springs that are subsequently released through an activation button.
In large facilities, such as a processing plant for example, there may be many circuit breakers that need to be reset. These circuit breakers may also be spread out over a wide area. As a result, the process of resetting the circuit breakers may take a long period of time as electricians visit each of the circuit breakers and perform the necessary reset actions. To resolve this, accessories that allow remote operation circuit breakers have been proposed. These accessories have separate control functionality from the circuit breaker which requires the installation of an additional communications conduit between the circuit breaker and a control center. This need for a separate communications conduit tends to make the installation of the remote operation accessory complicated and expensive. This is especially true when the accessory is installed after the circuit breaker has already been installed.
Accordingly, while present circuit breakers are suitable for their intended purposes, there is a need in the art for a circuit breaker that may be easily connected to a remote station without needing a separate communications conduit.